British Columbia Thunderbirds
Overview "Thunderbirds" is the name of the sports teams of the University of British Columbia (UBC), which is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their home arena is the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, one of the venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They are members of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). UBC started play in the senior and intermediate levels of the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association. In fact, they won the 1921 Savage Cup for the provincial senior title. UBC did not play top tier university hockey until they joined the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) in 1961-62. In 1962-63 the conference was re-named the Western Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WIAA). When the WIAA split in two following the 1971-72 season, the University of British Columbia became a founding member of the CWUAA, along with the University of Saskatchewan, University of Victoria, University of Calgary, and University of Alberta. Victoria has since departed and a GPAC merger and new programs have added new CWUAA opponents at the University of Manitoba, the University of Regina, University of Lethbridge, and Mount Royal University. *'Official Site' Senior Seasons As with the other major western universities, UBC competed in local senior competition in their pre-university days. They competed in the Vancouver City Senior League (VCSL) in at least 1920-21. Results from BC hockey in the early days are sketchy. Here are the results available: 1920-21 VCSL: *After finishing in 3rd place in the 4 team league UBC caught fire in the playoffs, winning sudden-death quarter-final and semi-final games before defeating the renowned Vancouver Towers 6-5 on aggregate to take the title. There are no other listings for UBC competing in the VCSL in any other season, though records are missing for several seasons. See: List of VCSL Seasons 1920-21 British Columbia Senior Playoffs: *After losing the opener to the Victoria Senators 3-2, UBC took game 2 by a 5-3 score. This gave UBC the series 7-6 on aggregate and the provincial title. Unfortunately for them, they won the title too late to challenge for the Allan Cup. Alberta had the same problem, and Saskatchewan's league was under suspension. That left the Intercollegiate winner (who for 3 seasons in the early 20s was granted a berth), the University of Saskatchewan, and the Manitoba and Thunder Bay champions (Brandon and Port Arthur) to compete for the 1920-21 Western Canada Allan Cup Playoffs. So had UBC competed they likely would have faced the University of Saskatchewan in a playoff series for the first time. Also, the University of Alberta came very close to winning the 1920-21 Alberta Senior Playoffs. They won the Edmonton league and then lost the final to Calgary. 1921-22 British Columbia Intermediate Playoffs: *Unfortunately, this is the only season for which annual standings are available for the Vancouver Intermediate League. UBC placed second and lost the semi-final to the Vancouver Nationals. 1945-46 British Columbia Intermediate Playoffs: *All we know of this season is that UBC lost a semi-final series to New Westminster 2 games to 1. More information: *British Columbia Senior Hockey Champions *List of British Columbia Senior Playoffs *List of British Columbia Intermediate Playoffs *BC Hockey History University Seasons UBC entered the old WCIAU in the 1961-62 season. They played for three seasons before departing for two, citing travel costs. The squad returned in 1966-67 and remain there today. The team has won two WIAA conference titles, in 1963 and 1971. They qualified for the University Cup in those two seasons, and in 1977. They lost the 1977 CWUAA final to Alberta, who were slated to host the University Cup that year. 1963 was the first season where the CIAU (forerunner of the CIS) held a national hockey championship. The `Birds went 8-1-1 in the regular season. At the U-Cup they beat Sherbrooke 6-2 in the semi-finals before losing the final to McMaster 3-2. In 1971 the `Birds placed second to Manitoba in the regular season. However, they defeated Calgary in the semi-finals and Manitoba in the final to return to the U-Cup. In a five-team tournament, they lost 3-2 to Toronto, beat Loyola 6-4, then lost the third place game 7-4 to Laurentian. In 1977 the west was split into the CWUAA and the GPAC. UBC placed second in the CWUAA and then lost to Alberta in the final. In the U-Cup they lost a 2-game semi-final series to Toronto 11-10 on aggregate. As the 70s became the 80s the Thunderbirds never had a return to glory. They lost the 1978 final to Alberta and then finished either 3rd or 4th in the 4-team era of the CWUAA. Once the CWUAA merged with the GPAC, UBC never saw the playoffs until the field was expanded to 6 teams. The last time UBC finished in the top four seeds was in 1989-90, when they placed 3rd. Since then they have always been 5th or lower. Also in that period, they have won three playoff series, all in the quarter-final (or division semi-final) round. In 2007 and 2009 they beat Lethbridge, and in 2014 they beat Saskatchewan. In all three series they were the lower seed. The 2014 win over Saskatchewan was their first series win over a "Big Four" team since they beat Manitoba in the 1971 WIAA final. In 2013-14 the program was put in doubt by UBC administration. However, efforts of the Vancouver Canucks and WHL owners appear to have saved the program, for the immediate future at least. *List of WCIAU Seasons *List of WIAA Seasons *List of CWUAA Seasons *1962-63 WIAA Season : 1962-63 University Cup *1970-71 WIAA Season : 1970-71 University Cup *1976-77 CWUAA Season : 1976-77 University Cup *Vancouver Sun on Kevin Bieksa *Metro News on WHL owners *Vancouver Province on booster dollars Championships SENIOR *VCSL - 1921 *Savage Cup - 1921 UNIVERSITY *WIAA - 1963, 1971 International Games 1973 Tour to China and Japan Dec 7 @ Beijing 5-0 China Dec 9 @ Beijing 7-0 China Dec 13 @ Harbin 9-2 Harbin Dec 14 @ Harbin 14-1 Chichihar Dec 15 @ Harbin 5-1 Huilunkiang Dec 19 @ Changchun 8-1 Kirin Dec 20 @ Kirin 8-0 Kirin Dec 26 @ Tokyo 8-2 Japanese College All Stars Dec 27 @ Tokyo 5-4 Kokuidokukaukau Dec 28 @ Tokyo 4-5 Seibu Railway 2010 Pre-Olympic Feb 10 Norway Olympic Team 4 UBC 1 Game Story Canada West Team Sites Current Teams *Alberta Golden Bears *Calgary Dinosaurs *Lethbridge Pronghorns *Manitoba Bisons *Mount Royal Cougars *Regina Cougars *Saskatchewan Huskies *UBC Thunderbirds Former Teams *Brandon Bobcats *Lakehead Norwesters *Victoria Vikings *Winnipeg Wesmen Thunderbirds who played in the NHL *Ken Broderick *Doug Buhr *Ross Cory *Gary Dineen *Mike Kennedy *Danny Lucas *Barry MacKenzie *Dan Smith *Barry Wilcox Photos Category:Canadian Interuniversity Sport Category:British Columbia Senior Hockey Category:British Columbia Junior Hockey Category:Canadian ice hockey teams